Recipes and food stories from two sisters…

This blog was started by my younger half-sister, Silvi, in July of 2010 as a way for us to share and store recipes and food stories. The idea was that it would be a way for us to continue to cook together even though we live on opposite ends of the continent.

WHO WRITES THIS BLOG?

My name is Erin K Orr. I spent my early childhood in Canada on the farms of my loving Irish and Estonian grandparents. I moved to Hawaii at age 9, when my young, free-spirited mother married my adventurous step dad who had sailed to Maui on his boat. I have now lived in New York City for about 20 years and I am a professional puppeteer, storyteller and freelance arts educator. I am married to a Tennessee man with strong family connections to India. I have no formal training as a cook, but I have spent a ridiculous amount of my life thinking about and preparing food.

I’ve decided that Big Sis little Dish is still good name for the blog, even though my little sister does not post so often anymore. I am still a big sister, and I still want to use this blog as a way honour food memories and create community through food with whoever wants to come to the table.

WHAT IS THE STORY WITH ALL THESE RECIPES?

Through writing this blog, I have discovered that I love to write about how the preparation and eating of food evokes memories, creates connection to place and builds community. On this blog you will find…

I gave up gluten entirely in 2008 after 10 years of trying to find a way to work around the fact that wheat made me feel very ill. Baking had been my superpower, and it made me very angry to have to relearn how to do it without gluten. However, by the time we started the blog I was getting the hang of gluten-free baking and was happy to share what I had figured out with other people who were facing the same challenges that had. I usually include instructions for how to make the same dish with all-purpose wheat flour as well. Just because I can’t use my old baking recipes doesn’t mean someone else shouldn’t! My sister has no trouble with gluten, so some of her recipes use wheat flour.

I am not a vegetarian myself, although many people who I love (including my sister) are. I am not a dieter and having been raised around hippies I am generally skeptical of health food. That said, it is hard to escape your upbringing and I do end up eating pretty healthy at the end of the day. I do not subscribe to any particular way of eating as being correct for everyone. I just write about the food that I enjoy and that makes me feel good. I hope that some of the recipes will be useful to others as well.

In general the food I make…

focuses on seasonal fruits and vegetables.

features lots of gluten-free baking using a wide variety of flours from grains, seeds, tubers and nuts.

is pretty high in fat from nuts, butter, oil and duck fat when I can get it.

is made from scratch and rarely uses any pre-prepared ingredients. This helps keep food costs down, and rarely takes as much time as people think. Also, as much as it does not suit my personality to be a picky eater, I have inherited a tender gut that does not respond well to industrial food-like mystery ingredients.

occasionally uses odd or hard to find ingredients. I am curious by nature and live in a city where every weird ingredient can be had. I usually suggest substitutions.

only rarely uses very expensive luxury ingredients, since I’m not particularly wealthy.

would include more recipes for meat and seafood, if I could afford to buy it more often. Being raised eating meat that my grandparents lovingly raised and butchered themselves I am picky about where I buy my meat from, and properly raised meat is expensive. I consider myself a very good meat cook though, so please do try the few recipes that I have posted!

includes influences from diverse cuisines where my husband and I have lived, travelled or have family connections.

Some of the recipes are original and some have been adapted from excellent cookbooks or food blogs. It is always tricky to determine the point at which a recipe is “yours”. I link to recipes that I used as a source material.

HOW ARE THESE RECIPES ORGANIZED?

Before starting this blog, my system for archiving the recipes that found or invented looked like this…

Now there is a recipe index. You can also use the search feature in the upper right corner.

HELLO THERE, firstly I have to say thank you some of your recipes have become staple foods in my house!! secondly I have nominated you for the ‘Kreativ Blogger Award’, go to my blog, thecommontarte.wordpress.com to see the terms and to see your review from me :) thank you again for your awesome blog xx

What a wonderful idea…..! You two are awesome. Being friends with your Mom, and having known your Father, it’s no wonder you two are full of love and creativity. Much success to you both and hopefully I’ll see you sometime in the future. Just what I needed to get my own creative cooking juices flowing….Mahalo

HEY! I have nominated you for the Sunshine Award, you and your blog bring sunshine to my life when I read it every week! Here is the link to my post including links to your website! Thank you for blogging :) L.J

Hi, this is Vihren. Your blog is awesome! The pictures are beautiful! I want to make everything on here! Too bad free time and ingredients are not easy to access for me now… Erin, I loved your show and talking to you and Chris this past Friday!

Definitely! It’s also interesting to explore local foods. I just tried a bunch of very high quality soy sauces and vinegars that we bought on our last trip to the east coast (Hualien). Such a variety of flavors! There were interesting ice creams, confections and unfiltered artisanal beers as well… I hope I can show you around a bit the next time you come here!

I really enjoyed your post “The Right Kind of Marmalade”. :) I’m aiming to make Seville Orange marmalade this January, following my grandfather’s recipe. I live in Brooklyn, and so, was wondering, is Eastern Parkway and Nostrand the best place to get bitter oranges? Thanks so much, David.

You can get seville oranges at most of the West Indian grocery stores in the neighborhood of Flatbush. They will be labled “sour oranges”. If you are near the Q and B trains go to Church Ave station. Leave the station by way of the Church Ave exit (not Caton Ave) and turn left as you leave the station. All the green grocers on that stretch of Church should have sour oranges. I have been getting them at the places on Flatbush Ave between Parkside and Caton because that is near my house. Good luck and Happy marmalade making!

We just found you and are so happy to join the rest of your followers! We must be gluten-free due to celiac disease and have been so for 12 years. Will definitely be browsing through your recipe index!! Thanks!

Nice work Erin and Silvi, I am so pleased to have discovered your beautiful blog! I don’t have to be gluten free, but I am just starting to discover how alternative flours can produce interesting flavours and textures to baked goods. I look forward to seeing your posts in my feed and trying some of your recipes! All the best, Chez